~ Day by day with RA …

Victories

Most health issues are like short skirmishes. Skinned knees, a 48-hour bug, a cold that lasts for a week, the flu that lasts for two weeks, gall bladder issues that are solved through surgery and recovery. Some skirmishes you win on your own. Others take WMDs (weapons of medical destruction) and armies of healthcare providers.

Chronic illnesses are not like that. They are long-lasting sieges. They are the 100-years War where you barricade yourself against the assault of the disease throwing out your best defenses, beating back the enemy as much as possible. With RA, you hope for an armistice or a truce when remission occurs, hopefully indefinitely. But still, the damage to your battlements is there.

And because there is no final victory over RA (yet), it is important to celebrate the battles that you do win.

So this is me doing a celebratory dance.

I’ve mentioned a couple of times that Xeljanz seems to be working and, to me, that’s more than a victory, it’s a miracle. I’ve been on numerous drugs but, until now, the first thing I did in the morning when I woke up was try to decide what hurt most. Now I wake up and mentally try to organize everything I have to do in the day. Stiffness and pain are not first or foremost in my mind.

Xeljanz is not a cure and it’s early in the treatment plan. There are a lot of things that could go sidewise. But I’m not there yet. Now I get to wake up and do a happy dance and blow raspberries at RA.

I hope whatever your day brings, there’s a reason to celebrate a victory. Thanks for checking in.

Hi, Carla. I am so happy for you. I know the euphoria you experience when you wake up to no pain. I once got a cortisone shot and for two days I felt like the tin man had gotten an extra dose of oil. I will pray this medication keeps helping you.

Carla, what truly wonderful news! It actually choked me up, learning the impact this new drug is having on your everyday life. Although having RA isn’t lucky by any stretch of the imagination, having RA now, in this time, is. These new drugs are making a huge difference in quality of life for so many people. And as each one works, medical science learns from them and makes the next one better.

Now, if only these drugs could be freely available to everyone afflicted with this disease, regardless of their wealth and healthcare circumstances. My fingers remained crossed that free access will become a reality sooner rather than later.